Paediatric dentistry

Dentistry that is geared towards the needs and conditions of children is called paediatric dentistry.

The common goal of both parents and paediatric dentists is the maintaining of children's dental health, and the best way to achieve this is through early and consistent prevention. Parents should start brushing their teeth together with their children after the first tooth breaks through at the latest. This allows the child to grow accustomed to the toothbrush. An early and very consistent introduction to dental hygiene by the parents is important, as humans are not born with proper tooth-care behaviours, but need to learn these, just like people need to learn reading and writing. Parents can set a good example for their kids; it makes sense to use playful methods, such as colourful children's books.

After the first anterior teeth break through (at approx. 6 – 8 months), we advise that you pay your first visit to the pediatric dentist. Here, the parents are mostly given advice on proper dental care and nutrition that is beneficial to dental hygiene, in order to prevent caries effectively. And the child will get to experience their first friendly contact with the dentist. At this time, the dentist will also check on the healthy development of the dental enamel.

"To me, a visit to the dentist is like any other appointment.”

During this and all following appointments, the child-friendly furnishings in the treatment room and the playful approach of the entire team will help the child grow accustomed to visits to the dentist, associating it with positive instead of negative emotions. A follow-up visit to the dentist, as well as tooth "repair", should ultimately be rather unexceptional, and certainly not trigger any fear in the child.

We advise parents to try and avoid visiting the dentist for the first time because of pain or a hole in a tooth that necessitates immediate treatment. However, in such cases, our paediatric dental team will also face the situation in a manner that is both child-appropriate and playful, in order to try "repairing" the tooth in the gentlest and most pain-free manner possible. If teeth are gravely damaged due to caries, then milk teeth crowns can restore normal function.

Our employees have undergone advanced training to help them deal appropriately with any fears children might have. However, if these fears do prove to be too great to handle, which occurs most often with young children, then our practice also offers the option of treatment with nitrous oxide or treatment under general anaesthetic.

A paediatric dentist can also detect misalignments of the jaw and teeth at an early stage and initiate early orthodontic treatment. Oftentimes, corrections that need to be made at this age can be performed with easy and targeted exercises or child-appropriate devices, which help avoid orthodontic treatment in future, or at any rate reduce the extent to which they will be required.

Children love to frolic around. When they fall or have other minor accidents, this might lead to dental problems – or even the loss of a tooth. In these cases, an immediate visit to the dentist is absolutely necessary. If the tooth is detached completely, the gap will be fitted with a placeholder that prevents the existing teeth from moving and causing problems in dental development.

If a child engages in sports that could be described as either "open competition" or "high impact", such as football, handball, ice hockey, skating, or BMX riding, teeth might find themselves in harm's way more often. In these cases, it makes sense to wear protective mouth gear, which reduces the risk of serious injury significantly. After taking an impression of the teeth, we can manufacture a tailor-made mouth guard. It will not bother a child, nor will it impede their sporting activities.